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Review: Comic Book Men: Season 1: Episode 4: Zombies

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Welcome back Cosmic Book Men!

Another week, another episode of AMC's Comic Book Men. Will my disappointment for the first 2 episodes and my downright nerd-rage for episode 3 continue? Will assuming that Kevin would, via this show, assume his geek-given lineage as rightful heir to the pop-culture kingdom get the best of me again? Will after watching last week's The Talking Dead leave me wishing that Patton Oswald ran in and decapitated Smith and Hartwick screaming "There can be only one!!" I prepped for this week's episode by playing Duke Nukem Forever and watching Afflek'sDaredevil while drinking Budweiser Chelada. I'm ready! Allons-y!

Open with the now standard question of the week and throw in early Ming beating. The show gets rolling with a good segment focusing on a comic couple expanding their collection with the purchase of Giant Size X-Men, Hulk 180 and 181. On to the episode's sub-theme with a short conversation on the impact of family and wives on comic collecting. We continue with a Godzilla sized segment of Hipsters vs. Robert Bruce. Bruce always wins. He needs to be a bigger part of this show, period. Now on to the antics with Ming's Zombie publicity stunt. But unfortunately the makeup turns out more They Live than The Walking Dead. Thankfully we are quickly back to the books, and the people with another girl in the shop with a well loved longbox of silver age goodness. The show continues with another tortured soul's story of an old relationship, the impact on his hobby and buying back his manhood. Robert Bruce and a friend return with some incredible original Silver Surfer artwork, Walt almost passes out, but Ming closes the deal for him. In the end, the Zombie antics fail the show and The Stash. Thank God is was a minor part of this week's show.

I also listened to Episode #3 of the companion podcast this week and I have to say I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The guys just sat around, let their personalities shine and discussed the merits of Lethal Weapon and their thoughts on past, present and future Batman castings. For the better, the podcast seems to have gone back to the non-affected pre-AMC/CBM roots.

This podcast and this weeks episode were a step in the right direction. It went to show that if you take this fun and talented group of guys and focus on the content and not the antics, you can create something enjoyable. Best episode thus far....or maybe that's the Cheladatalkin'.

The episode title this week was very appropriate, because like a Zombie, the show is still shambling aimlessly, but just may have finally stumbled across some brains.